Monday, May 11, 2009

Before I really dive into Exchange 2010, I thought I would install and play with it first. I took some screen shots and notes during the installation. I would like to share these findings in this article.

In this article, my focus is more on Microsoft Exchange 2010 installation and configuration process in a pristine environment. But in my next article I would explain the details about transitioning or migrating from Exchange 200X to Exchange 2010.

Versions of Exchange 2010Exchange 2010 is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The 64 bit version is for production environments and the 32-bit version is for development environments. I haven't seen the 32 bit version of Exchange 2010. I am using 64 bit version for my testing.

Pre-requisite The following section explains the pre-requisites before you can install Microsoft Exchange 2010.

Make sure at least one Global Catalog server is available in every site when you plan to install Microsoft Exchange 2010. The recommendation for a Global Catalog server is the same as the previous versions of Exchange servers. It is recommended to have a 4:1 ratio of Exchange processors to Global Catalog server processors, assuming that the processors are of similar models and speeds.

Note: I have seen some Exchange 2007 reference in the screenshot. Again, this product is still in beta :-)

Hotfixes and Software The following hotfixes and software needs to be installed on the server where you are planning to install Microsoft Exchange 2010:

Hot fixes

Microsoft Knowledge Base 951725

Microsoft Knowledge Base 950888 - Requires a reboot

Software:

NET Framework 3.5

Windows Remote Management 2.0 - Requires a reboot

Windows PoweShell V2

2007 Office System Converter

IIS 7.0 The Microsoft IIS 7.0 must be installed on the server with the following IIS components and features before you can install Microsoft Exchange 2010:

IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility component

Web Server (IIS) Tools component

Windows Process Activation Service Process Model component

IIS 7 Basic Authentication component

IIS 7 Windows Authentication component

IIS 7 .NET Extensibility component

IIS 6 Management Console

HTTP Activation feature

IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility component

IIS 7 Dynamic Content Compression component

IIS 7 Static Content Compression component

IIS 7 Digest Authentication

Active Directory Schema Preparation

Active Directory Schema needs to be prepared before installing Microsoft Exchange 2010. You can manually update the schema by using Setup /prepareAD command or the installation process will update it during the installation. You must install AD management tools on the Windows 2008 server before preparing the schema.

The following 2 screen shots explain the available option and syntax with Setup.com command. This file is located on the root of the Microsoft Exchange 2010 CD.

If you haven't installed the AD management tool on the Windows 2008 server, you will get the following error message during the installation:

You can install the remote management tool by running the following command:

ServerManagerCmd -i RSAT-ADDS

Or if you just want to continue with the Exchange 2010 installation, you can simply copy the LDIFDE.EXE file to the System32 folder. That's what I did in my lab.

If you have followed my document, you are now ready to install your first Exchange 2010 in your environment.

In my next article, I will be discussing about transitioning from different Exchange version to Exchange 2010 and Exchange installation process.

As always, I would I like to hear your feedback and suggestions. Please feel free to send me an email at Santhosh@Sivarajan.com